Cromer gets 40-75 years for killing DPD sergeant

Marquise Cromer, who shot his dad, another man and then a DPD cop, Sgt. Kenneth Steil, was sentenced to 40-75 years in prison Thursday, Feb. 15 at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit.(Photo: Clarence Tabb Jr. / Detroit News)

Marquise Cromer was sentenced Thursday to 40-75 years in prison for fatally shooting a Detroit police sergeant.

Cromer also received a concurrent sentencing for shooting his father and another man during a one-man crime spree almost a year and a half ago.

Cromer shot Sgt. Kenneth Steil Sept. 12, 2016, while officers were searching for him in connection with the shooting of Cromer’s father and another man a day earlier. Steil died a few days later of his injuries.

During his sentencing, Cromer told the judge he was “hearing voices” when he shot the 46-year-old officer, adding: “I thought it was God, to be honest.”

Holding a rosary, Steil’s widow, Joann, spoke at the sentencing, telling Cromer, “Marquise, I forgive you because God forgives you.” She told reporters later that she would like to have seen Cromer get more time behind bars.

Police were searching for Cromer, 22, after he shot his father, 62-year-old Sterling Cromer and then another man during an attempted carjacking on Detroit’s east side. The elder Cromer said his son was at his home in 2100 block of Dickerson when the younger man came downstairs and shot him in the feet around 5 p.m. Sept. 11, 2016.

Last month, Cromer pleaded no contest to being guilty but mentally ill.

At an emotional hearing, Joann Steil said the loss of her husband has been hard on the couple’s young sons and has left her with “an ache that will never go away.”

“Words cannot describe the pain you have caused me and my family,” she told Cromer.

Steil said her husband was a hero and that police officers like him get no respect, adding: “There is a war against police officers.”

The slain sergeant’s sister, Karen Tonn, said her brother, a 22-year police veteran, was her best friend.

“I have lived my entire life with him in it,” said Tonn. “I can’t imagine living the rest of my life without him.”

“My brother was a rock of our family,” said Tonn. “He was so well-liked and respected by so many and it is so painful living without him now.”

Steil’s parents wrote a letter about their fallen son, read by family friend Susan Thomas.

Ken and Diane Steil recalled their son wanting to be a police officer since he was a kid.

The late officer’s parents remembered that Kenneth Steil “took down countless criminals while never shooting his gun.”

Other police officers filled the benches in the courtroom of Judge Shannon Walker along with Steil’s family members. Two members of Steil’s police squad spoke during the sentencing, recalling a brave officer who mentored younger colleagues.